Wacker Neuson will accelerate its plan to produce mini excavators in the US following the tariffs imposed by the US administration, but there are likely to be pricing implications for customers which are hard to predict.

Alexander Greschner, chief sales officer (CSO) of Wacker Neuson, speaking to International Rental News on the first day of Bauma, said it was aiming now to produce mini excavators in the 1.5 to 2.5t sizes in the US alongside the 3-5t machines that it was already preparing to manufacture under its manufacturing agreement with John Deere.

Alexander Greschner, chief sales officer (CSO) of Wacker Neuson, pictured at Bauma 2025 on the opening day. (Photo: 必赢体育)

鈥淲e鈥檒l localise鈥�, he said, 鈥淚f this is the reality of the future, then we have to be more American鈥�.obviously every American knows that from now on a European product might be more expensive.

鈥淏ut at the very end, as a global group, say 鈥� with hypothetical numbers - if we make 鈧�500 million from Europe to the US today, 20% is 鈧�100 million.

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 do anything, this 鈧�100 million will be just gone from the profit line, so we have to look at it on a global scale as well and say, okay, we need to find ways to generate this money somewhere.鈥�

He said the pricing impact in the US could be felt the most over the coming 9 months to a year, before its local production is fully online.

One of the challenges facing OEMs, said Greschner, was creating a full supply chain in the US, because even many US produce machines today contain imported components which will be subject to import tariffs and could add 5% to 10% to the cost of a machine.

鈥淎nd the question will be now, how much [price] will we put on top? And do we all do the same in the end? The customers will be paying - or will not be paying, will not invest. That is the scary thing.鈥�

Greschner said Wacker Neuson had already built up a US supply chain in preparation for its John Deere agreement and its own production, although this would take time to scale up, and there could be issues around availability if other OEMs also seek to localise.

鈥淲e go live next year with the first machines for John Deere. All the steel frames are US sourced, also the hydraulics. That means we have suppliers we know, and we have now to make smaller booms and undercarriages, but at least we have access to suppliers. Again, I don鈥檛 know how that will run in the US because everybody will try to find a local source.鈥�

He said the duplication of production lines in each region could impact on economies of scale; 鈥渢o produce 10,000 of the same excavator in one spot makes more economic sense than to produce 5,000 here and 5,000 there, and with different suppliers. So, the economy of scale is disappearing.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to keep the European focused machines 鈥� 1.5t, 2.5t is the classic British, French, Italian, German machine - with the core production in Europe and we ship to the US, and vice versa with the 3.5t, 4.5t excavators where the biggest market is the US, and we export to Europe. Now let鈥檚 see as if the counter measures [tariffs from Europe] are coming, then you would need both product lines produced in both regions.鈥�

Ultimately, said Greschner, tariffs will add cost and be inflationary; 鈥淭here will be an effect in pricing. This is provoking another level of inflation going forward, because it鈥檚 across so many products in the US and, it hits at some point also the Europeans, if it goes vice versa [via counter tariffs on exports] to Europe.鈥�

The company had anticipated the US tariffs by shipping as much product as it could both into and out of the US, using its large Canadian distribution facility.